Patristics

views updated May 17 2018

Patristics. The study of Christian writers, specifically the Church Fathers, in the period from the end of New Testament times to Isidore of Seville (d. 636) in the W. and John of Damascus (d. c.749) in the E. The term ‘patrology’, synonymous in older books, now usually refers to a handbook on the patristic literature.

patristics

views updated May 29 2018

patristics the branch of Christian theology that deals with the lives, writings, and doctrines of the early Christian theologians or Fathers of the Church.